WAS it last Summer, just last year, Or many and many a year ago, Our hearts went shadowed by that fear? Now Time and Space are darkened so It might be fifty years since then, And, Love, our boys are home again. So long since we two bore that strain And shook for what the day might bring! And now our boys are home again, 'Scaped from the bitter and dreadful thing, You will not turn, Love, to rejoice, Even for the boys, Love, the safe boys! So long, Love, since you went away, And yet the laggard year's not spent! Our boys are here, Love, brave and gay; It is so long, Love, since you went. If but this year were gone, who knows What flower of hope might bud, what rose? Only last year! So wide, so deep The river runs 'twixt now and then. Here is the feast of joy to keep, Since, Love, the boys are home again. But, dim in darkness lies last year And the New Year, Love, the New Year! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ROBERT OF LINCOLN by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT MY AIN COUNTRIE by MARY LEE DEMAREST I, TOO by JAMES LANGSTON HUGHES DOOMSDAY: TREASURES IN HEAVEN by WILLIAM ALEXANDER (1567-1640) PRINCETON by LYMAN WHITNEY ALLEN THE KNIGHT AND THE LADY; DOMESTIC LEGEND OF THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM THE BOTTOM DRAWER by MARY A. BARR URANIA; THE WOMAN IN THE MOON: THIS STORY MORALIZED by WILLIAM BASSE |